【2022 Application Example】 Droxo Tech Applies Drones in Golf Courses to Reduce Manpower by Half

For most golf courses, the operations and management is a headache. "Golf courses are selling turf and need to be properly taken care of," a golf course manager bluntly pointed out. Facing the market pain points of labor shortage, aging population and high cost, the use of AI drones for pesticide spraying and pest control will reduce labor costs by more than half and greatly improve the overall operational efficiency.
At noon in early summer, an AI drone is slowly taking off at the Taipei Golf Club in Taoyuan. Its main task is to test AI drone fertilizing and pesticide spraying on the golf course. In fact, drones of Droxo Tech, the company performing this task, are widely used for fertilization, pesticide spraying, and pest and disease control for rice, bananas, and tea trees. For golf courses with turfs that often cover tens to hundreds of hectares, AI drones are needed to assist in turf maintenance. Data collection, development of pesticide spraying AI models, and multispectral image analysis and testing will be carried out in the current stage. In the future, large-scale technology implementation and verification will be carried out to set an example for applying drones to golf courses.
Using AI drones to fertilize and spray pesticides can reduce the manpower required by half
The traditional way of maintaining the turf in golf courses is to carry spray buckets or drive spraying vehicles to spray areas one by one. "Domestic golf courses began to plant ultra-dwarf Bermuda grass in 2001. This grass species prefers a cool climate and is not suitable for Taiwan's hot and humid weather." Droxo Tech’s CEO further pointed out that to prevent turf from pests and diseases, pesticide spraying is necessary. For an 18-hole golf course, it is equivalent to spraying pesticides once a week, and the T-ground and fairways are sprayed every two months. For golf courses, spraying pesticides is time-consuming and labor-intensive. It is important to note that large-scale spraying will increase the risk of personnel poisoning and increase the amount of pesticide used.
▲Benefits of applying agricultural drones to golf courses
According to Droxo Tech’s research, golf course pests include Spodoptera litura, which comes out at night to look for food, so pesticide spraying must be carried out in the evening. According to the traditional method, pesticide spraying requires two vehicles and three personnel for a total of 4.5 hours. If AI drones are used for fertilizing and pesticide spraying, it only takes one operator to spray 0.8 hectares of land in 20 minutes, saving about two-thirds of the manpower and reducing operating costs by about 30%.

▲Using AI drones to fertilize and spray pesticides on golf courses can reduce the manpower required by half
In addition to the significant benefits of using agricultural drones for golf course turf maintenance, Droxo Tech also specially introduced AI multispectral image recognition for NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) analysis. "The so-called multispectral is to direct light with different wavelengths on the turf, and the reflected images are collected for analysis." Droxo Tech CEO Liu continued to explain that each plant absorbs light with different wavelengths, so multispectral imaging can determine the growth status of grass species. At the same time, combined with AI image recognition, the distribution of pests and diseases can be accurately detected, and the amount of pesticide used is determined on this basis.
Cross-domain collaboration to build a multi-source turf image database
Using AI multispectral image recognition technology, Droxo Tech will collect visible light, multispectral, thermal images, and hyperspectral images to establish a multi-source turf image database to fully understand the growth cycle of Bermuda grass. Droxo Tech has accumulated rich experience in agricultural AI drone pesticide spraying , but there are still many problems that need to be overcome to implement AI solutions in golf courses. For example, it is necessary to establish a new pesticide spraying model and test flight methods, especially the application of multispectral image recognition. PoC is not difficult, but actual implementation requires more test evidence, repeated inferences, and collaboration with plant experts. This part must rely on the cross-domain integration of legal entities such as the Institute for Information Technology (III), gathering more fields for verification, and creating a paradigm before it can be more widely adopted by golf courses.
There are not many international cases on the application of AI drones in golf courses. During the verification process, it is not yet known whether it can be quickly copied to the next golf course. However, Droxo Tech CEO Liu believes that through cross-domain collaboration, clearly defining the problems and listing them one by one, supply and demand parties can reach a consensus, propose solutions to each problem, and seek cooperation with internal and external resources. Only then will we be able to gradually achieve the goal of making golf courses smarter and smoothly assist the industry with transformation.

▲Zuoyi Technology's CEO, Liu Junlin
「Translated content is generated by ChatGPT and is for reference only. Translation date:2024-05-19」
Recommend Cases

With the introduction of theAOIAIWith the introduction of the system, we can improve product yield, reduce costs, and from a business perspective, increase customer trust and sales revenue Moreover, AIit has advantages that are difficult to imitate, unlike other equipment that can be bought with money, making it hard for our competitors to catch up with us Our company's current development We are committed toIOTsmart manufacturing our systems already include smart materials systems, environmental humidity control systems, anti-miscarriage systems, smart procurement computation systems, smart inventory systems, solder paste management systems, and production management systems We have asked other manufacturers about the possibility ofAIinspectingPCBAsurface defects, each hoping that we would purchase their equipment, but none were effective upon verification After discussing with IT service providers, we defined it asAOIAIa feasible operational model Tzuhong Technology has invested inAOIAIan inspection plan to checkSMTtext on components, solder joints, polarity, missing partsand usingAIto replace manual learningAOIand define the 'potentially defective' parts, enhancing productivity and reducing misjudgment rates Industry pain points Taiwan faces a severe labor shortage, especially those willing to perform visual inspections are few and typically older, increasing the frequency of missed inspections Thus, the most critical bottleneck in the pursuit of high-quality electronics has become post-production inspections Previous consumer products with undetected anomalies were acceptable within a certain ratio However, in the automotive industry today, undetected defects could lead to fatalities hence, the automotive industry has extremely high quality demands To survive in the automotive supply chain, we must address the issue of undetectable anomalies Moreover, as wages in Taiwan continue to rise, we can only endeavor toAIreplace traditional manpower with technology, otherwise, even if the anomaly leakage problem is resolved, the relatively high labor costs will still prevent competitiveness in this industry Application technology and explanation Initially,Figure 1,PCBUpon emerging,Reflowsystem, it will undergoAOIwill undergo inspection, dividing into 'suspected defective' and good products At this point, the 'suspected defective' portion accounts for20manual review for these20parts, further classifying the 'suspected defective' portion into good and defective products With We aim to leverageAItechnology, to shift from manual re-inspection of these20technology, we aim to replace manual review of 'suspected defective' products withAIand after review, the results still yield 'good' and 'suspected defective' products, but now 'suspected defective' comprises only3thus reducing the workload of Tzuhong's employees from20down to only3In theory, it isAOIIn theory, after inspection, it is further reviewed byAIbut it appears to go throughAOIonly, so we call this technologyA0IAIDetectionFigure 2。 The original AOI inspection process The operator will place the testPCBboard intoAOIthe inspection equipment, outputtingAOI information on defective products, then manually re-inspect one by one to determine if they are defective AOIAI inspection process The operator will place the testPCBboard intoAOIthe inspection equipment, outputtingAOIinformation on defective products after, then proceed byAIfirst performingAOIre-assessment of defective products, outputtingAIinformation on defective products afterward, then manually re-inspect one by one to determine if they are defective Process differences By introducing theAOIAIsystem, not only can we enhance the efficiency and yield of visual inspection personnel, we also have this timeAIexperience in system introduction, we will also incorporateAIthe use of big data into Tzuhong's existing smart manufacturing systems, further enhancing the performance of our smart manufacturing systems and reducing the pressure on employees Difference between pre and post-introduction Promotion strategy 1 Similar field diffusion allSMTmanufacturers face bottlenecks in inspections leading to shipment delays introducing this system can solve the severe labor shortage issue and enhance shipment speed and quality, allowing self-promotion to customers or through equipment dealers to cater to relevant needs 2 Cross-industry expansion plans negotiate withAOImanufacturers to directly integrateAIthe system intoAOItheir systems, enhancing their market competitiveness Profit strategy 1 In collaboration withAOImanufacturers, collect licensing fees 2 Direct sales toSMTthe manufacturing industryAIsystems 3 ProvideSMTmanufacturing industryAOIAIsystem subscription model「Translated content is generated by ChatGPT and is for reference only Translation date:2024-12-09」

For most golf courses, the operations and management is a headache "Golf courses are selling turf and need to be properly taken care of," a golf course manager bluntly pointed out Facing the market pain points of labor shortage, aging population and high cost, the use of AI drones for pesticide spraying and pest control will reduce labor costs by more than half and greatly improve the overall operational efficiency At noon in early summer, an AI drone is slowly taking off at the Taipei Golf Club in Taoyuan Its main task is to test AI drone fertilizing and pesticide spraying on the golf course In fact, drones of Droxo Tech, the company performing this task, are widely used for fertilization, pesticide spraying, and pest and disease control for rice, bananas, and tea trees For golf courses with turfs that often cover tens to hundreds of hectares, AI drones are needed to assist in turf maintenance Data collection, development of pesticide spraying AI models, and multispectral image analysis and testing will be carried out in the current stage In the future, large-scale technology implementation and verification will be carried out to set an example for applying drones to golf courses Using AI drones to fertilize and spray pesticides can reduce the manpower required by half The traditional way of maintaining the turf in golf courses is to carry spray buckets or drive spraying vehicles to spray areas one by one "Domestic golf courses began to plant ultra-dwarf Bermuda grass in 2001 This grass species prefers a cool climate and is not suitable for Taiwan's hot and humid weather" Droxo Techrsquos CEO further pointed out that to prevent turf from pests and diseases, pesticide spraying is necessary For an 18-hole golf course, it is equivalent to spraying pesticides once a week, and the T-ground and fairways are sprayed every two months For golf courses, spraying pesticides is time-consuming and labor-intensive It is important to note that large-scale spraying will increase the risk of personnel poisoning and increase the amount of pesticide used Benefits of applying agricultural drones to golf courses According to Droxo Techrsquos research, golf course pests include Spodoptera litura, which comes out at night to look for food, so pesticide spraying must be carried out in the evening According to the traditional method, pesticide spraying requires two vehicles and three personnel for a total of 45 hours If AI drones are used for fertilizing and pesticide spraying, it only takes one operator to spray 08 hectares of land in 20 minutes, saving about two-thirds of the manpower and reducing operating costs by about 30 Using AI drones to fertilize and spray pesticides on golf courses can reduce the manpower required by half In addition to the significant benefits of using agricultural drones for golf course turf maintenance, Droxo Tech also specially introduced AI multispectral image recognition for NDVI Normalized Difference Vegetation Index analysis "The so-called multispectral is to direct light with different wavelengths on the turf, and the reflected images are collected for analysis" Droxo Tech CEO Liu continued to explain that each plant absorbs light with different wavelengths, so multispectral imaging can determine the growth status of grass species At the same time, combined with AI image recognition, the distribution of pests and diseases can be accurately detected, and the amount of pesticide used is determined on this basis Cross-domain collaboration to build a multi-source turf image databasenbsp Using AI multispectral image recognition technology, Droxo Tech will collect visible light, multispectral, thermal images, and hyperspectral images to establish a multi-source turf image database to fully understand the growth cycle of Bermuda grass Droxo Tech has accumulated rich experience in agricultural AI drone pesticide spraying , but there are still many problems that need to be overcome to implement AI solutions in golf courses For example, it is necessary to establish a new pesticide spraying model and test flight methods, especially the application of multispectral image recognition PoC is not difficult, but actual implementation requires more test evidence, repeated inferences, and collaboration with plant experts This part must rely on the cross-domain integration of legal entities such as the Institute for Information Technology III, gathering more fields for verification, and creating a paradigm before it can be more widely adopted by golf courses There are not many international cases on the application of AI drones in golf courses During the verification process, it is not yet known whether it can be quickly copied to the next golf course However, Droxo Tech CEO Liu believes that through cross-domain collaboration, clearly defining the problems and listing them one by one, supply and demand parties can reach a consensus, propose solutions to each problem, and seek cooperation with internal and external resources Only then will we be able to gradually achieve the goal of making golf courses smarter and smoothly assist the industry with transformation Zuoyi Technology's CEO, Liu Junlin 「Translated content is generated by ChatGPT and is for reference only Translation date:2024-05-19」

Green energy is the future trend and will surely lead to huge business opportunities in the future Wind power has been one of the green energy sources that have attracted global attention in recent years It will become an important force in my country's renewable energy and help Taiwan's power generation reach the goal of 20 by 2025 to improve Taiwan's energy independence As the number and power of domestic wind turbines wind turbines increases year by year, it is particularly important to ensure that the power storage equipment achieves safe, long-term performance, is not easily attenuated during charging and discharging, and is sustainable, low-carbon and environmentally friendly At the same time, the wind turbine equipment itself Health inspection, maintenance and repair have also become the focus of wind farm operators In order to meet the needs of wind farm customers, the green energy business unit of Hua Mo Industry has launched long-lasting energy storage all-vanadium redox flow battery electrolyte and wind turbine AI predictive operation and maintenance, providing 100 safety, long-term efficiency and reducing customer initial manufacturing costs cost-effective power energy storage equipment, and through AI predictive operation and maintenance services to help customers reduce power generation costs by 10 and save up to 30 in maintenance and warranty costs Hua Molybdenum Industry was established in 1998 The industry started by refining vanadium, molybdenum and rare metal elements and other products, and used them in high-end steel, professional chemicals and specialty chemicals industries, and vanadium is more like a steel-making Vitamins can increase the effectiveness of steelmaking Among them, vanadium and molybdenum related products are one of the company's main projects The company sees that the all-vanadium redox flow battery, which is 100 vanadium-based, will be a very promising mainstream green energy technology in terms of long-term energy storage in the future, and before 2010 The government has actively invited legal entities such as the Industrial Research Institute to conduct research on related component materials in solid-state batteries and all-vanadium batteries In addition, the Ministry of Economic Affairs expects renewable energy to account for 20 of power generation in 2025 and reach 15GW Based on the above Considering this, Hua Molybdenum Industry decided to devote all its efforts to research and invest in the technological development of self-developed all-vanadium redox flow battery electrolyte in 2017, in order to accelerate the compliance rate of renewable energy in 2025 Hua Molybdenum pointed out that "renewable energy power is relatively unstable, and Taiwan itself lacks lithium resources In lithium battery manufacturing, almost 80-90 of battery cells must rely on foreign procurement, and there is a lack of 100 domestic self-sufficient energy storage Resources and technology "Similarly, how does Taiwan overcome the problem of having no natural vanadium resources To this end, Hua Molybdenum Industry uses original technology to use waste catalysts from petrochemical industries such as CNPC refineries or Taishuo petrochemical processes Up to 10 of the vanadium ion content can be used to extract high-value vanadium resources, thereby producing Taiwan's 100 self-made all-vanadium redox flow battery electrolyte without being affected by resources, effectively achieving resource recycling Since 2017, Hua Molybdenum Industrial has successfully created all-vanadium flow electrolyte technology, and has successfully passed product verification by the Industrial Research Institute, the Nuclear Research Institute and many international manufacturers Taiwan’s power storage energy target is to reach 15GW in 2025 Its power distribution includes 500MW in Taipower’s automatic frequency regulation system, 500MW in E-dReg and 500MW in existing or newly built solar power plants For example, electricity consumption is mainly between 4 pm and 10 pm, which is the peak period for people's daily electricity consumption For this reason, the Energy Administration specifically requires Taipower to strengthen the upgrade of energy storage equipment, which has also driven the market's interest in all-vanadium redox flow batteries Energy storage system equipment is in high demand In addition, Taiwan's current total power reserve construction and contribution has not yet reached 100MW, and the gap from the 2025 target of 15GW of power storage is still more than 15 times Using all-vanadium redox flow batteries to successfully create 100 safe, low-carbon, environmentally friendly and long-lasting energy storage system equipment Compared with the short-term power storage of lithium batteries, the biggest advantage of all-vanadium redox flow batteries is that it is globally recognized as a long-term power reserve It can store energy for a long time up to 12 hours, which means that if it is charged for 12 hours, It can release power for 12 hours Compared with the electricity measurement method of general energy storage systems, which is daily electricity consumption power in kilowatts x time in hours, for all-vanadium redox flow batteries, power and hours are different Special design, the power is also called a stack, which is composed of four materials metal, polymer mold, carbon felt and graphite plate, and the power consumption time is calculated based on the amount of electrolyte in cubes Therefore, when the power electric push x the amount of electrolyte the daily electricity consumption of our all-vanadium redox flow battery for energy storage The product features of the all-vanadium redox flow battery energy storage system equipment include four major features safety, long-term performance, not easy to decay during charging and discharging, and sustainable, low-carbon and environmentally friendly The quality of the all-vanadium flow battery is 100 safe Since the electric energy is stored in the vanadium-containing electrolyte, it can avoid any flammable accidents caused by a fully charged energy storage system In terms of battery life, compared to the short battery life of lithium batteries, all-vanadium redox flow batteries can have a battery life of more than 20-25 years through changes in price Regarding the charge and discharge performance of energy storage, unlike lithium batteries which have a certain number of charge and discharge times 5000-600 times, there is no limit to the number of charge and discharge times of all-vanadium redox flow batteries Regarding zero carbon emissions, which is highly valued globally, unlike lithium batteries which have recycling issues, the electrolyte of the all-vanadium redox flow battery can be used permanently The material components of the stack are environmentally friendly and fully recyclable to create a truly sustainable and low-cost Carbon-friendly energy storage system Onshore wind turbine AI prediction smart operation and maintenance allows customers to reduce power generation costs by 10 and save maintenance and warranty costs by up to 30 Hua Molybdenum Industry not only improves the long-term power storage efficiency of renewable energy customers through all-vanadium redox flow battery energy storage system equipment and helps customers reduce initial purchase costs, but also uses AI smart operation and maintenance empirical calculations for offshore and onshore wind turbines Field demonstrations were drawn on Taipower's onshore wind farm, and we actively accumulated our own technical experience and energy in AI predictive operation and maintenance With the support of the AI HUB project of the Industrial Bureau of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the cooperation site will focus on the Phase I wind farm of Taipower Corporation and provide smart operation data of wind turbines for more than 6 months for analysis The AI predictive operation and maintenance system for onshore wind turbines uses machine learning The main technology provider comes from ONYX Insight, a subsidiary of British Petroleum BP The company uses AI Hub analysis software technology to analyze the wind turbines faced by Taipower Pain point analysis, including power generation loss of road-based wind turbines and damage prediction of key components of land-based wind turbines such as gearboxes, pitch bearings under abnormal vibration three-dimensional vibration frequency or abnormal temperature, etc output Through this implementation, it can effectively help Taipower reduce power generation costs by 10, increase asset value by 12, and save up to 30 in maintenance and warranty costs In the past three years, ONYX Insight has successfully predicted and operated more than 20,000 offshore or onshore wind turbines around the world, accumulating extremely high AI model accuracy It is believed that the international partnership established with ONYX Insight will effectively guide and accelerate the green energy division of Hua Molybdenum Industry in its goal and layout to become an independent technology service provider for wind turbine AI predictive operation and maintenance Works with partner ONYX insight to provide customers with an AI predictive operation and maintenance system, including wind turbine power generation loss and damage prediction of key wind turbine components Building a solid foundation for domestic wind turbine operation and maintenance, using Taiwan as a base to expand to Southeast Asian wind farms The market output value of offshore wind turbine AI predictive operation and maintenance in Taiwan will exceed NT30 billion in the future, and the energy storage market has an output value of more than 100 billion US dollars globally In the future company vision, Hua Molybdenum Industrial hopes to become An independent technical service provider for vanadium flow battery electrolyte and wind turbine AI predictive operation and maintenance The long-term goal is to establish a local supply chain of vanadium flow battery electrolytes around the world by accumulating abundant technology and performance capital to supply industry needs nearby 「Translated content is generated by ChatGPT and is for reference only Translation date:2024-05-19」